A native of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, and a former vendor in Caloocan City, grizzled Tour of Luzon campaigner Luis Lucas first joined the national spectacle in 1965. His tour career was heavily punctuated by two severe mishaps involving Juanito Ranchez and Manolito Moring.
The gravest occurred in 1976 when he clipped Moring’s rear wheel, throwing the hapless Lucas from his bike. The then 37-year-old Tour veteran was knocked unconscious, suffering two forehead lacerations, two lost front teeth, nine stitches inside his mouth, a severely bruised left knee, and a nose and upper lip swollen to twice their normal size. Nonetheless, he persisted in racing against medical advice—proving that for him, cycling was an inescapable compulsion (bisyo).
“Tutal, hilig ko ito, para bang bisyo ng katawan na hinahanap-hanap, na hindi maaring ayawan…”
The late Luis Lucas was the father of former national cycling team member and current national cycling team coach Marita Lucas—the youngest of his six children—and the grandfather of Rex Luis, Maritoni, and Maritanya Krog.
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